Unloved
by erinnn
Summary: At the end of her Hogwarts career, Lily Evans feels less than satisfied. Can anyone, possibly a raven haired, hazel eyed anyone, snap her out of it? One shot!


**A/N: Here's a little one-shot I wrote after reading an extremely cute teen romance book. I was _hit_ with this idea** **and decided to run with it. To tell the truth, I think I'm actually quite proud of this one. So I hope you all enjoy it and please read and review!**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. It all belongs to the fabulously talented (and rich) JK Rowling.**

So there I was, in the Great Hall, standing around like the chump I knew I was. Everyone else was having a grand time: laughing, talking, eating, dancing... if you could name it, they were doing it.

It was our graduation ball and I, Lily Evans, was standing alone at the corner of the dance floor.

I felt like the world's biggest loser.

All my friends had dates and when I looked around I saw all my classmates canoodling with each other, openly displaying their affection. It was sickening and yet... I desperately wished I was one of them.

To tell the truth, I could have been one of them. I don't mean to sound snotty or anything, but a few weeks ago, this one boy asked me if I would like to be his date. I flat out rejected him. But it's really not my fault. He was ridiculously crusty and greasy.

And then about a week ago another person asked me. I said no because his eyes were too far apart.

Three days ago another boy asked me to go with him. I said no because his neck was way too long.

I knew I was picky. I knew it was my fault that I was oh-so very lonesome. I decided to sulk anyway becuase there's really nothing better than sulking.

The one person I thought would ask me—the one boy I would have said yes to—completely ignored me and left be feeling unloved and stupid.

That insipid James Potter!

For the longest time I thought he was the rudest, most egotistical prat to ever walk the earth. But in recent months I saw that he had grown up. A bit. He still played pranks on people (especially the Slytherins) but now they were funny, unlike the malicious ones he used to pull. He was still confident and had a high self-esteem, but it was no longer infuriating and annoying. He had matured. He was still the same old James that I met back in first year… only better.

For the past three or four years he had incessantly and obviously chased after me. I used to hate it almost as much as I thought I hated him. It used to embarrass me like nothing else. Back then, I honestly wanted to wring his neck

Yet, at the moment, I wanted nothing more than for him to ask me out just one more time.

There was something wrong with me. I knew I was crazy. Nothing made sense when it came to James. I did, after all, go from hating his guts to secretly pining for him in a relatively short period of time.

I was as crazy as Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and James all mixed together.

"Oi! Lily!" my friend Emilia called.

I turned around and plastered a false smile on my face. I immediately noted that Emilia's cheeks were flushed, quite possibly because she had spent the past forty minutes dancing like a maniac. Her eyes sparkled and she looked like she was having the time of her life. I wished with all my heart that I could be that happy.

Emilia grabbed a goblet of juice off of the nearby table and drank it in a single gulp. "Enjoying yourself?" she asked me while bobbing her head to the beat of the music.

I nodded and a sarcastic "oh, sure" escaped my lips.

She grinned. "Great!" She downed another goblet of juice. "I think I'm all refreshed now. I'm heading back to the dance floor. Want to come with?"

Now, Emilia's a nice girl. Truly. But she lacked the common sense any other person had. No, I did not want to "come with" to see her flirt and dance with Remus. I did not want to see her have the time of her life while I stood there, feeling unwanted. I could do that on my own.

That tactless whore.

I shook my head and she pranced away. For a moment I wanted to go with her. And be with my friends, even if they were all almost making out with their dates.

I toyed with the sleeve of my brand-new dress robe and wished I hadn't bought something so expensive for a night I was hardly enjoying.

That's when I saw him in all his hazel-eyed, messy-haired splendor. James Potter had entered the room.

With Dorcas Meadowes.

He was flirting with Dorcas.

I felt a pang of longing and a jolt of jealousy course through my body.

HE WAS WITH DORCAS.

I shook my head. What was _wrong_ with me? I was letting some inconsiderate git ruin my last night at Hogwarts. But the thing was, he wasn't even doing anything to me. He hadn't even acknowledged my presence.

Enough was enough. I decided that I at least had to _try_ and enjoy myself. It really wouldn't do to sulk and whine all night. It was my last big shebang at Hogwarts! I would force myself to have an excellent time.

And, if I couldn't do that, I would pretend to enjoy myself. Oh, yes. I'd make it seem like I was enjoying myself just as much as James was.

I forced a smile onto my face and bravely made my way over to my cluster of friends.

"Hey guys!" I chirped a little too happily.

Amid the hellos and how are yous I heard Emilia say, "I thought you weren't going to come! You were awfully sulky over there."

Upon hearing that, I faltered for a moment. I _was_ sulky. What was I doing with my happy friends? But I quickly made up a small little lie to cover up my loneliness. "I was a bit, but then I saw, er, how much fun you guys were having and how much I was er… missing out on!"

I mentally smacked myself. What a stupid, stupid thing to say. Had anyone ever said anything more stupid? No, I really don't think so.

Thankfully, a new song began and this one had a heavy, vibrating beat. Thankfully, it distracted everyone.

"I LOVE THIS SONG," my friend Alice squealed. "Come one, Frank, let's dance!" She grabbed Frank's hand and jumped up and down. Frank Longbottom grinned as he allowed himself to be dragged away by his girlfriend.

I watched them for a moment, a stupid little wistful look on my face.

"I bet they'll get married straight out of school," Remus commented, following my gaze.

"Possibly even before," I giggled.

"I bet they're secretly already married and have a child named Fabio in the dungeons," Sirius chimed in, laughing. I looked him over. He was always very handsome, but tonight he was unusually so. His hair fell gracefully onto his forehead, and his eyes were twinkling with mirth and happiness, not the usual almost-mean-but-still-so-funny humour they normally held.

"That's going a bit too far," I told him, though I was grinning like an idiot.

"Quite possibly," he answered, winking at me. We stood for a moment, watching Remus and Emilia leave and start dancing.

"And Fabio? What kind of name is Fabio?" I asked to fill the silence. Except it wasn't really a silence. There was still music and everything. We just didn't talk to each other for a moment.

Suddenly, he held his hand out to me. "May I have the pleasure of your first dance of the night?"

I flushed. He noticed that I hadn't danced with anyone else? Did everyone notice? Was I _that_ pathetic?

"Let's show these buffoons how to really dace!"

I gingerly placed my hand in his. It didn't feel wrong, but it didn't feel special. It wasn't like I was holding James' hand or anything...

Not that I knew what it was like to hold James' hand.

"Hey Black," I said as I began to sway to the music. "Where's your date?"

I actually didn't know if he had one, but I assumed that he would because all his friends had a partner. James had come with (that awful) Dorcas, Remus with Emilia and Petter with Terry Lewis. And besides that, he was _Sirius Black_. The ladies' man. The most sought-after male at Hogwarts.

"What?"

I guess he was too busy bobbing his head to hear me.

"Your date," I yelled. "Won't she mind that you're here dancing with me?"

Sirius shook his head and laughed. "Who? Good ol' Dorcas?"

What? I had thought she was here with James!

Sirius must've noticed the confused look on my face so he said, "I came with her. But she was getting a tad bit annoying so I gave her to James for a moment. It's not a big deal. She doesn't mind. She's a bit boy-crazy. And by that I mean... she's a slut."

"But… his date…. Won't _she _mind?" I asked.

Sirius spun me around and said, "What date? James came alone."

My heart skipped a bit. Hell, it skipped four! James was alone? He came alone? It was awesome! It was enlightening. It was…

So incredibly stupid!

I realized that it really didn't matter if he was alone or not. I couldn't very well ask him to dance with me. Not after the way I treated him for our entire Hogwarts careers. Besides, he probably had a line-up of girls waiting to dance with the famed Gryffindor Quidditch captain.

Those bitches.

Why? _Why_ had I been so blind to James' irresistable sexy charm?

The song ended and I thanked Sirius before making my way over the my corner again. I twirled a lock of my auburn hair around my finger. I felt stupid and deflated for hoping. I felt angry with myself (and, admittedly, I was angry with Dorcas, too). But most of all, I felt like an unloved piece of swine.

Why me?

Just then I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned around and my green eyes locked with a pair of bespectacled hazel ones.

"Uh, hullo Lily," James said. Was I imagining it, or did he sound a bit nervous? I hoped he did. It's always cuter when the guy is at least a _bit_ nervous.

I gave him a small smile and was about to turn around and walk away in embarrassment when he suddenly asked, "Hey, d'you want to dance?"

The first thing I noted that the song playing was a smooth, slow, romantic ballad. He wanted me to slow-dance with him!

Did he really even need to ask?

My breath caught in my throat. I was breathless and speechless and there was James, tilting his messy head of black hair ever so slightly, awaiting my answer.

"Gresourse!" I finally managed to blurt out.

My face immediately flushed a deep red. I could feel the heat waves radiating from my face.

"Pardon?" said James, his lips curving into a sexy little smile.

I began to stutter but eventually managed to explain that I really wanted to say "great" but half-way through realized that was a stupid answer and tried to change it to "of course" but it came out as a senseless word. Stupid. I was so stupid.

As he laughed and took my hand, I felt sparks shoot up my spine. James led me to a secluded corner of the dance floor, pulled me close to him and snaked his arms around my waist. It was an exquisite moment of pure contentment. I closed my eyes and breathed in his scent—a mixture of the outdoors, elegance and boyishness. It was so uniquely James. I put my arms around his neck—the neck I wanted to strangle way back when—and we danced in silence until…

"You don't still hate me, do you?" he murmured into my ear.

I didn't move. I most certainly did not hate him. In fact, I fancied the pants off of him.

But of course I couldn't tell him that! Instead I shook my head.

"No, I don't," I whispered without looking at him. My heart began to pound like crazy and I'm absolutely sure James felt it, too. It was very nice of him not to say anything. He could have made a comment about how it sounded and felt like there were cute little bunnies kicking my ribcage. I glanced at the wall. It was very nicely decorated. Lots of flowers and tinsel.

"Really?" he asked with a note of surprise in his voice. I felt a tiny bit guilty. I knew I had been harsh with him in the past. Sure, I had wanted him to think I hated him, but I suppose I took it too far.

"Listen, James," I said, looking at him square in the eye. "I'm sorry."

James looked at me as if I were a psycho killer. "For what?"

"You know," I began, a bit rattled by his reaction. "For being such a heinous little arse to you. For being mean and rude and stuck up—"

"For what?" he asked again. I stared at him in confusion becuase I really and truly was confused. He had to have known that I was so obviously apologizing for being all gross and rude and... mean. But then he winked at me and I understood that he was being all suave and nice.

I swear, it was at that exact moment that I realized that I was completely and utterly head-over-heels in love with him.

I remained silent for a moment, absorbed in my revelation. I loved him. I _loved_ him. Was it possible for a teenager to be submerged in love like I was at that moment? Yes, yes it was. And if it wasn't, who cared? I certainly didn't, becuase I _loved_ James Potter!

"James?" I inquired softly, not letting my astonishment show. "I don't think I ever really hated you," I told him, thinking that it was a tactful way to build up to my confession of undying love. My cheeks flushed like crazy.

"That's nice to know. Quite relieving, actually. I thought you would never _stop_ hating me. And now to find this out? It's like a dream come true," he joked with a faint grin. Or was he only half-joking? It was always so hard to tell with that grin. That sexy, cute, wonderful grin that I loved just as much as I loved James.

Becuase I did love James a lot.

I laughed softly. "Well, James, I think I—"

I never finished my sentence. I didn't have to because that's when he lowered his head and kissed me.

And from that moment on, I never, _ever_ felt unloved again.


End file.
